# Bill to bar gender identity discrimination in Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713 "2005-05-20T06:10:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/1 "2005-05-20T06:10:44Z")
NDP MP Bill Siksay, the first openly gay MP elected to a first term, and Svend Robinson’s successor as MP for Burnaby-Douglas, has introduced a bill to amend the _Canadian Human Rights Act_ to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression. The text of Bill C-392 can be found [here.](http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/private/C-392/C-392_1/C-392_cover-E.html) His remarks on the subject in Parliament can be found [here.](http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/100_2005-05-17/han100-E.htm#Int-1282673) A press release on the subject can be found [here](http://www.ndp.ca/newsdetail/nid-2532). > [@](#): > > “Transgender and transsexual people are often victims of violence and face discrimination on a daily basis,” said Siksay. “This is unacceptable and the inequity in protections for trans people must be immediately addressed by Canadian laws.” > > “It is my hope that the inclusion of this ground would send a strong message that people should not be discriminated against because of their gender identity or gender expression. Such discrimination is wrong and this intolerance must end.” As you can imagine, I’m pretty damned happy about this one. As it happens, I was just about to bring a resolution before NDP-Quebec’s LGBTTT commission to call for the same thing, and here we have Bill Siksay preempting me. 🆒 Now let’s see if the Liberals are interested in preventing discrimination against trans people or not. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/2 "2005-05-20T06:12:32Z")
Drat. His remarks on the subject in Parliament can be found [here.](http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/100_2005-05-17/han100-E.htm#Int-1282673) A press release on the subject can be found [here](http://www.ndp.ca/newsdetail/nid-2532). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/3 "2005-05-20T07:00:08Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > A press release on the subject can be found here. No it can’t. Maybe [here](http://www.ndp.ca/page/1344)? Kick ass, at any rate. I hope the bill receives the support it deserves. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/4 "2005-05-20T07:02:04Z")
It works on my computer… Apparently, the website is in the middle of being changed. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/5 "2005-05-20T11:40:59Z")
And once again, I’m very happy to have come from stock that realizes ‘gay’ doesn’t mean ‘sick and wrong’. Way to go! ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/6 "2005-05-20T11:58:03Z")
Wow, **KellyM** was just telling me about some official nastiness perpetrated against transsexuals in Canada, such as in Toronto if they want the state to pay for SRS making them go for treatment to a hospital that specializes in the treatment of the criminally insane. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/7 "2005-05-20T13:22:15Z")
Woo-hoo! if it weren’t for the weather, I would _so_ move up there. On a related note, I’ve been considering rocking the boat and making waves (a dangerous combination) with Oxford Health Plans. We just got the new rules, and they cover infertility treatments, prosthetic devices, chiropractors, alcohol and substance abuse therapy, psychiatric and therapy care . . . But _not_ “any procedure or treatment designed to alter the physical characteristics of a Member from the Member’s biological sex to those of the opposite sex, regardless of any diagnosis of gender role or psychosexual orientation problems.” How can I fight this? Not for me, of course, but on general principles? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/8 "2005-05-20T16:00:23Z")
> [@lee](#): > > Wow, **KellyM** was just telling me about some official nastiness perpetrated against transsexuals in Canada, such as in Toronto if they want the state to pay for SRS making them go for treatment to a hospital that specializes in the treatment of the criminally insane. Oh, well Og knows there’s quite enough of that, as well. I hadn’t heard of the policy you state – AFAIK, there is NO public funding for SRS in Ontario (fuck you Mike Harris) – but there’s more than enough bullshit to begin with. Let’s start with the fact that you cannot change your legal sex in any province or territory without proof of SRS, regardless of how you present. In fact, up until recently in Quebec (due to the different civil law system), you couldn’t even change your _name_ to your target gender without first changing your legal sex. (This was successfully challenged a few years ago by a trans lawyer named Micheline Montreuil; among other things, the court found this requirement wasn’t actually in the Civil Code to begin with.) So yeah. We do still have a buttload of work left to do. But just as having sexual orientation in the Charter was instrumental in obtaining same-sex marriage, having gender identity in the human rights laws should hopefully help deal with these kinds of idiocies as well. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-to-bar-gender-identity-discrimination-in-canada/304713/9 "2005-05-20T16:08:29Z")
**Eve** , we wrote our state senator supporting anti-discrimination laws and that seemed to help. In fact, the law we were supporting was revise to cover discimination due to gender identity more explicity covered than it was in the initial wording. I don’t know that it had an effect, but it did not seem to hurt.